


Left behind

by SyllxMatte



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Overthinking, other turtles also are here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 06:03:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16696852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SyllxMatte/pseuds/SyllxMatte
Summary: Watching retreating shells of his brothers Raph had to be honest with himself: somewhere deep down he knew this day will come.





	Left behind

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy!

Watching retreating shells of his brothers Raph had to be honest with himself: somewhere deep down he knew this day will come.

Sure he tried not to think about such possibility.  
Ignored it.  
Never really allowed himself to ponder consequences of him being..him. 

He stubbornly ignored all the signs.  
Internally he felt like he was just like his brothers. They were always on the same level more or less.  
Did they not share everything? Did they not live in the same space?

Same rooms, same couch, same dinning table. Same grappling hooks and other equipment.

He sadly remembers a pizza they shared last night. Tears come into his face as he remembers that Mikey even made for him an extra large one. With all toppings he liked. It turned out to taste even more amazing than it looked and smelled. (He should have always eaten less.)

Mikey was like that, he had most talents out of them all. And he worked these talents to better family. Box turtle shared his results with them.

Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo...  
They always were better than he.

And they were better suited for the life they led.

They four shared so many experiences together.  
Latest of them often led brothers to the surface, and oh man did he not expect it to be so chaotic.

They enjoyed this chaos together.

But now he supposes he will have to be content with just hearing about their adventures.  
He imagines sitting at home, knitting another set of scarves day after day as his brothers enjoy the surface.

At first they would readily share their experiences.  
And he would laugh with them about their next clumsy fight and Leo's puns.

He would.  
At first.  
Then they would forget to mention some details.  
Would grow weary retelling their stories to him.

And with time stories would shrink to a few words.

Raph chokes on sob.

They would grow more and more apart.

And while these three would be as close as ever.  
A better team.  
He, a supposed team leader, would become almost a stranger to them.  
A stranger that shares their home.

All because while his brothers move forward, he stays in the same place.

He tried to keep up with them.  
Struggled with both arms and legs.  
But some are just unable to overcome their natural restrictions.

Raph wiggled an inch and now he is sure his situation only became even more dire.  
Yeah he is going to become a stay-at-home brother.  
Who only _used_ to be someone they would share almost everything with.  
But maybe he can go back?   
He wiggles more only to realise that "stay at home" may have been a pinch too optimistic.

He can't go back any more than he can go forward.

Lights of the cars passing alley blur in his teary eyes. He bits lower lip to hold back a sob.

Oh yes.  
He knew this day would come.  
He should have not ignored scrapes of tunnel walls on his shell spikes.

Last time they went out was just two days ago. He managed to wiggle out then. Almost three whole weeks since he started to feel how narrow walls of the tunnel scrape his shell as they climb up. Each day the friction grew more pronounced.

But he ignored it.

And now he is stuck.

Already at the entrance to the alley Mikey looks back to call:  
"Hey Raph, are you coming?"  
Then youngest turtle sees a teary face of his brother and panics:  
"Raph! What happened?" Mikey comes closer.  
"Do you need a hug?"

"Yeah, a hug would be great." Red turtle rasped.

Mikey kneels before his big brother and hugs him around shoulders.  
Raph gladly hugs back. Snapping turtle couldn't hold back his sobs anymore.

Two others also turn around and come closer to the scene.  
One of them already is pressing buttons on blue dial of his bo staff.

"Hey Raph, what's the matter? Are you hurt?" asks Leon.  
Raph, still hugging Mikey, shakes his head a "no".

Their biggest, spikiest brother sticks only halfway out of the manhole they use the most to go to the surface. Upper half of him is outside. But biggest spikes, ones in the middle of his shell where he is the widest, clearly aren't able to fit through standard manhole.

Raph's arms cautiously clench Mikey closer as he buries his head in Orange's neck.  
Mikey barely hears shaky whisper near his ear slit:  
"I am stuck"

\- .... . -. / -.. --- -. .- - . .-.. .-.. --- / .--. .. .--. . ... / ..- .--. / ... .- -.-- .. -. --. / .... . / .-- .- ... / .-- .- .. - .. -. --. / ..-. --- .-. / - .... .. ... / - --- / .... .- .--. .--. . -. / .- -. -.. / - .... .. ... / .. ... / .-- .... -.-- / .... . / -.-. .-. . .- - . -.. / ... .--. . -.-. .. .- .-.. / --- .. .-.. / .- -. -.. / -- .- .--. .--. . -.. / -. . .-- / .-. --- ..- - . ... / .-- .. - .... / .-- .. -.. . .-. / . -. - .-. .- -. -.-. . ... / .- -. -.. / .- -.. .--- ..- ... - . -.. / -.-. .. - -.-- / .-.. .- -. -.. ... -.-. .- .--. . / .-- .... . .-. . / -. . . -.. . -.. .-.-.-

**Author's Note:**

> Because no manholes that I saw would fit a giant turtle like rotTMNT Raph.   
> Or Slash from 2k12 series.  
> Or any turtle from Bay movies.  
> Some universes just have too elastic manholes.


End file.
